All with the Family
by lilliewildelangtry
Summary: Sequel to and inspired by the Christmas cartoon "Oy to the World." After Niles and CC refuse to let their daughter Sara go to a Christmas party due to much needed family time, she's transported to the North Pole, where mayhem and mischief await her when the Abominable Babcock threatens to cancel Christmas yet again. Advent Calendar '15 submission.
1. Chapter 1

"Is that the last of it?" Sara called to her father as she landed the box on the top stair with a huff, before pushing it towards the parlor.

"Everything should be here!" He announced with a smile, just as she scooted her last box with the rest of the "Christmas" ones and began to take things out.

"What's mummy doing again?"

Niles sighed as he handled a bit of garland that he was hanging above the doorway. "She's on the telephone with some very important men in the Broadway business. Big investors. God, I wish she'd just get out of that pen of hers already and help us out already."

"I thought you were in the pig pen, daddy." She answered.

"Hey, I thought we were partners here!" He questioned.

"We are but that doesn't mean I can't go freelance." Sara replied, making Niles smirk. Some chicken was teaching their little chicklet business lingo already.

Sara then began to go through one of the unopened boxes and immediately found Chester's "holiday squeaky ball", which she then tossed to him. "Here Chester!" It landed over by the door with Chester chasing after it. She gave off a little smile before resuming her task of looking through the box before her, finding after minutes of rummaging through countless stray lights what she was a looking for: a small white box filled with ornaments from years gone by. From handmade ornaments, to Swarovski diamond encrusted ones mummy and daddy bought during their first Christmas together as a couple. However, upon further inspection, many of them were missing their twine or hangers that allowed to be hung from the tree.

"Daddy where's the paper clips?"

Niles stopped at the garland for a second to turn his body on the ladder, "Over there by the other boxes," He pointed to the other side of the room. "...beside your first cranberry garlands." He added with a smile before resuming to placing hooks up on the wall. Putting Christmas ornamentS up always put Niles back on the pleasant walk of memory lane, and remembering one of Sara's first anythings was something that always had the tendency to put a small tear to his eye.

"...well it seems you don't understand the necessity of this phone call!" CC said into the phone as she came out of her office and into the hallway, stopping right where Niles' ladder was. "I mean its the Christmas season for God's sake, I've got a life to catch up on and its not like I don't do all this 24/7 to begin with! I've got to have that decision by tonight!... Fine, I'll hold." She took the phone from her ear and looked up at Niles, "Do you mind?"

"What?"

She motioned to the ladder with her hands, as if it was obvious what she was talking about. He quirked up his eyebrow, "You forgot your pointy hat?"

CC narrowed her eyes at him and adjusted the phone attached to her head, "The ladder, Igor! Mind moving it?"

"What's 7 extra years of bad luck gonna do to your record, Babs?"

CC pursed her lips, "Gonna give you 7 extra years of marriage."

Niles sighed and got off the ladder, "Alright, alright... keep your feathers on..." He pulled it to the side and let his wife enter the parlor.

"Thank you." She answered haughtily before bringing the phone back up to her lips with a smile. "Oh... you can do that?!... Marvelous! I'll be waiting for that call...Uh huh, alright. Ciao!" She turned off the phone. "Hate that guy." She growled.

"Is that the last of the collection calls?" Niles asked, coming behind her, with Sara on the other side of the room, awaiting her mother's answer.

"Not yet." CC answered with groans coming from either side of her. "One of the partners has yet to make up his mind between our play and some... deaf play."

"Tribes?"

"That's it! I thought it was "Hives"." She gave a dark chuckle, but then realized no one else was laughing. "What? Why is everyone looking at me?"

"You promised to help us once you were done." Sara piped up as she was hanging a little cardboard gingerbread man in the unlit Christmas tree.

"Yes, once I'm _done_. I'm not done yet, am I?" CC replied sarcastically as she crossed her arms.

"In the meantime, Ivana..." Niles said as he bent down to look through one of the nearby boxes and brought out an ornament missing its hanger. "Help your little chick mend the ornaments."

"But he could call anytime," CC protested as she took the ornament, "And I will not have him hear all of this racket... not that I don't enjoy spending time with you all."

"Mmm hmm." Niles mumbled as he returned to his ladder.

"I do!" She turned around to look at him.

"And don't you forget it." He answered with a smirk, blowing her a kiss, and getting a smile from her in return.

She sat down on the sofa, "How are we supposed to mend these anyway?"

"The paper clips!" Sara called back, jumping up and bringing her over a small box of them.

"That old trick?!" CC exclaimed, "Niles, for God's sake, why couldn't we just get new ornaments? Some of these look so...!" CC quickly silenced herself for what was coming.

"Takes one to know one!" Niles and Sara said in unison.

CC couldn't believe she just fell for that, and the fact their little one already knew that comeback at the tender age of eight.

"And besides, throw away the ornaments from the first Christmas we survived, without killing each other?!" Niles asked with sarcastic surprise, "Never!"

CC pursed her lips with disappointment, "Fine then." She took a paper clip from its box and began to undo it from its natural state to create a hook for the ornamen. She handed it off to Sara, who delegated a place on the tree for it and put it on.

Then the telephone rang, and with CC so eager and so sure it was for her, answered it first. "Alright, Geezer, what's the verdict...oh!..." She pursed her lips to withhold her embarrassment. "Ms. Simpson, how nice to hear from you again..." She chuckled nervously, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, something Niles learned awhile back was a nervous tick of hers when she knew she screwed up. "Yeah, no no, was just waiting for someone to call... not you though, not you... Oh... oh she wants to talk to Sara... absolutely, hold on, here she is..." She took the phone away from her, "Its for you." She held out the phone towards Sara, who came over and took the phone from her.

Niles came from behind CC again, this time to take some hooks from a nearby box. "Still not used to talking to normal human beings, are you Babs?" He asked with a smirk as she smacked him and mouthed an "Oh shut up!" in his direction.

"Hello?" Sara replied timidly into the telephone.

"Hi Sara, its me, Erica."

"Oh, hi Erica."

"Whatcha doing tonight?"

Sara looked over for a moment and shrugged, "Putting up decorations at the moment."

"Oh, okay. Well my fam's having a big Christmas party at my house tonight, and all my cousins are ill with the flu right now, so they want to see if anyone else wants to come over and help us get rid of all these sugar cookies."

"Well... sounds like fun."

"We got pin the nose on Rudolph and crafts and stuff. You should come over!"

"I'll have to see."

"Alright then. We'll leave the light on for ya! See ya!"

"See ya." Sara turned off the phone. A party didn't sound bad. And there was food there, which is always a plus. Sounded fun! She put the phone down on the coffee table and went over to her mother.

"Mummy?"

CC was just getting into the swing of placing paper clips onto the broken ornaments. "Yes?" She said in a sing song voice.

Sara seemed hesitant to speak, but pushed herself to do it anyway, "Erica just told me she was having a holiday party at her house and asked me if I would like to go. Can I?"

"No-ooo." CC emphasized.

Sara looked up at her with surprise, with Niles looking over at his wife with a quirked eyebrow at her response.

"I mean, oh doesn't that sound fun, but aren't we supposed to be enjoying tonight as a family?"

"But you're not even done with your stuff yet. It won't be for that long, I wasn't even going to ask to spend the night."

"Sara, I said no." CC told her firmly. "Tonight is family night, and we are going to celebrate it, even if it kills you."

"But - "

"No buts! No means no!" CC continued firmly, "Now..." She reached down and grabbed a medium sized box labeled "Sara's Room" and handed it to her, "Take it upstairs and go decorate your room."

Sara took the box with a downcast face, heading towards the stairs, picking up Chester's holiday ball along the way and squeaking it, telling Chester to follow her up. "Yes, mummy."

"And come back down right after you're done!" She raised her voice.

"Yes, mummy..." Sara called back with Chester disappearing up the stairs with her.

They heard a loud BANG! come from upstairs before CC felt those piercing blue pupils burn through her back again. "What?"

"Don't you think you were just a tad harsh?"

CC looked over at him with amazement, "Niles, I was merely solidifying my stance as her mother and the legitimate law of this household."

"Its just for two hours at the most." He replied.

"Alright, you go ahead and take her side. But I'm her mother and no means no! Besides... I had to pencil this night in. Do you know how pathetic that sounds? I have to actually pencil in when I can be home with my own husband and daughter... goes completely against what Nanny Fine told us." She muttered with some disappointment. "We hardly ever get to spend any family time together, and now that we do, she wants to nonchalantly get up and leave us. Well, I don't know about you but I'm putting my foot down. That's not happening tonight! These past few months, I've strangled half of New York's choreographers, fired numerous casting directors for their sheer stupidity, and made enough kid actors cry to populate the whole of Long Island! I deserve this break!"

"In other words, the usual." Niles answered back, with CC looking back at him with ferocious eyes that only made him smile like a school boy and look up toward the heavens.

"Merry Christmas to me!"

Sara sat at the front of her bed with downcast eyes, fiddling with Chester's holiday squeaky ball in her hands. "I don't get it, Chester. I'm with mummy and daddy all the time. Here, the theatre, gala events, school events, and everywhere else besides the bathroom. And sometimes they're there too. I don't understand why she is so particular in having tonight be specifically called family night. That's pretty much every night. It's not fair!" She said tossing Chester's ball away from her.

"Well I tell you what! I'm not going back down there when I'm done. I'm staying right here and keeping myself to myself." She jumped off the bed, "In the meantime, I'll be a good girl and put up the stickies." She went over to the window and started putting up red and green Christmas themed window stickies on her window while listening to Chester kick, gnaw and growl at his squeaky ball... until she couldn't.

"Chester?" Sara looked away from her handiwork and looked at the floor below, expecting to see him laying on the floor pooped or had literally "pooped".

"Chester, where'd you go boy?" Sara called, getting on her hands and knees, looking under her bed, her dresser, the closet, and even in the one or two dresser drawers that were still open.

"Chester!" She called louder with worry, and she finally got an answer. But she wasn't sure if it was the one she wanted to hear.

Sara heard his barking, but it sounded distant, but still somehow... close. The sound reminded her of when Chester had taken a spill down a sewer drain in Central Park, and had to call someone to get him out. As if his barking was... echoing into the room. She turned her head and looked over at her mirror. Another bark! And it sounded like it was coming from... her mirror?

"Chester?" The dog continued to bark with the same echoic sound, the peculiarity of it drawing her closer to the mirror. "Are you in there?" And as if the dog was responding, barked again. But as she drew nearer to the mirror, Sara didn't see her stuffed bear Coco in front of her and tripped over its furry body, causing her to fall forward and brace herself to hit the mirror glass, but went right through it instead! Endlessly falling and falling into somewhere she had no idea where until BAM! right into what felt like a concrete floor.

Snow. That's all she could see as she lifted her head up, as well as a bit of either the concrete or rock floor beneath her. Coming onto her knees, she turned herself about, looking up and seeing the cavernous ceiling just above her, reminding her of the St. Patrick's Cathedral just a few blocks down from where she lived.

Then she remembered Chester was still missing!

"Chester! Chester, where are you?!" Then she heard him barking, and pretty soon, saw him running right towards her.

"There you are!" She grabbed and hugged him, "I'm glad you're okay."

"Eh, still woozy from the kibble earlier."

"That's fi – WHAT?!" She exclaimed with widened eyes. "You can - ?"

"Tawk? Yeah, I do that a lot. You're just now paying attention." He said with a smile.

Sara was still a bit stunned and quite shaken. "N-no, you've never "tawked". Oh God, this has gotta be a dream!"

"You can pinch yourself until ya turn blue, this ain't a dream."

"Then what do you suppose this is?"

"From the looks of whats out there, a trip to the North Pole."

Sara turned around and gasped. Just outside the cave were life sized lollipops, gummy bears, donuts, candy canes, gum drops, lemon drops, and any other candy you could think of making up the landscape as far as the eye could see! It also included what looked like a pink sugar-coated pavement, broken up by a distant chocolate waterfall and wounding down the chocolate river, which went under a chocolate covered pretzel stix bridge that lead up to a banana split level gingerbread house, complete with ice cream scoops of every flavor.

"Candyland!" Sara exclaimed in a whisper.

Chester looked up at her, "Well c'mon!" He darted out of the cave with Sara right behind him. They immediately went straight to their favorite sweets, with Chester taking the donuts and Sara taking a break of the chocolate covered fence. But after just one bite...

"OWWWW!" They cried in unison

They both spat out whatever they had in their mouths and looked at what they were eating, this time a bit closer.

"They're frozen!" The dog exclaimed.

"Yeah," Sara replied as she stood up and looked around, "It looks like everything here is."

"Grrr... I leave for 10 years and come back not even able to eat one, lousy glazed donut." He growled.

"Wait, 10 years, come back, wha?"

"Yeah, you remember those tales ya dad told ya right?" Chester asked her, "Abominable Babcock? Have to save Christmas? Sharing is caring, blah blah blah? Remember?"

"Yeah, but..."

"But ya didn't think it was real. What about that frozen chocolate covered fence, did that feel real?"

Sara looked over at the fence post, which now had tooth marks in it from where she tried to take a bite. The pain of brain freeze was still settling within her system. "Y-yeah."

"Alright then..." Chester started scampering up the pink sugar-coated pavement.

"Where are you going?"

"To Pasadena to get that well deserved tan." He answered sarcastically, "To Santa's Workshop and figure out why Babcock's up to her old tricks again. God, I swear you gotta take some fish oil or somethin'..." He muttered to himself as he scampered up to Santa's front door, with Sara right behind him. She took the graham cracker textured doorknob and turned it, both of them peering inside.

The inside certainly did not match the outside. Upon seeing Candyland, one would immediately go back to being 4 years old in their first candy store. The inside of what should be Santa's very own workshop seemed like it was currently operating as an elven hospital ward. Stretchers were constantly buzzing throughout the room where it seemed like statues of elves were being brought to "warming stations", where they would thaw out and become real elves. It was then the two realized: those weren't statues, they were real life elves encased in thick layers of ice! Many of them were sitting on stools, being helped and aided by their fellow elfman to health, while others were wrapped up in blankets and submerging their feet in warm water to further stimulate their immune systems. It was a horrible sight. Certainly nothing one would think of when thinking about Jolly Old Saint Nick.

"Dad definitely didn't mention this." Sara whispered to Chester.

"This didn't happen last time." He muttered back to her. He pushed back the door a bit further, "C'mon. We gotta go find the big guy." Chester lead and Sara followed. Hardly no one paid them a bit of attention at first, until a few elves saw them, and word began spreading. Whether or not they were good words was up for debate.

"Do you see him?" Sara asked as she looked around at the growing amount of eyes looking at her.

"No, but's hes gotta be somewhe - " Chester turned to speak to her but backed up into someone, and that someone was Kris Kringle himself. He looked nothing like what advertisements made him out to be. He still had that dark hair, dark eyes and tall stature daddy's tale always told it to be, with a blazing red sweater to hit you over the head if you quite didn't get who he was yet.

"Oh, sorry... Chester? Chester, old boy, is that you?" He asked as he picked him up, "It is you! How are you doing old man, how's the family?!"

"Eh, can't complain." Chester smirked. Kringle put him down and noticed Sara standing beside him. "And you must be Sara, right?"

Sara was shocked, "Yeah... how'd you know?"

"That's my job. Its what I spend 364 days of the year doing, that and keeping the workshop in working order." He said depressingly.

"What's happened to the workshop, Santa?" Sara asked with concern. "We saw the mess outside and came in to see what's wrong... and then we saw this. What's going on?"

"Its this storm CC the..."

"Let me guess, the Abominable Babcock did this."

Kris Kringle's eyes widened, "You know about her?"

Sara nodded, "My dad told me stories about her, and how Nanny Fine and Chester managed to save Christmas from going back to the Ice Age."

He nodded, "Exactly. The North Pole was calm for years, up until a couple months ago. Since then, that Ice Queen has been blowing some major storms into this area, but this is the worst yet. Even worse than what Miss Fine had to deal with. Everything's freezing, even the "warm" chocolate river. Its turned to watered down cocoa! And now its gotten so cold that its freezing my only manpower: my own elves, to the point they're turning into ice statues while working their shifts. The heaters can't stop it either and we've gone through 4..." Then there was a horrendous noise, with something flying across the room, over their heads, hitting the opposite wall and crashing to the floor like a burnt crumbled piece of toast. "...5, since last week. I'm at my wit's end trying to save these elves, but even then I don't have enough elven magic to get these last bundle of toys in." He sighed. "If something's not done soon, I might very well not be able to make deliveries this Christmas."

Sara's eyes widened and looked down at Chester with worry. What was one to do?

"Everything was better when Elfis was here." They heard a nearby voice pipe up.

"Elfis?" Sara asked, "He's gone?"

"Yeah," an older elf replied, "Left us a few years ago, never came back." He slurped his hot cocoa.

"If only Miss Fine would come back!" One of the elves exclaimed.

"Yeah, she'd help us!"

"Yeah, she was brave!"

"Well, does anyone know what's making her cranky?" Sara inquired. All of the elves shook their heads. "No," Santa replied, "No one since Miss Fine has been brave enough to go up to her, or even stand up to her. Not even myself!" He admitted defeated.

"Then I'll go!" Sara said, "No one should be keeping Christmas from me… or someone else. And besides, Nanny Fine's afraid of spiders. I, for one, am not... much. C'mon Chester, we got a holiday to save." Sara announced as she headed towards the door.

Chester followed after, "NOW she gets back to her old self!" He growled as he followed her out.

After trekking through the snow for what seemed like a lifetime, Sara and Chester finally came up onto the Abominable Babcock's lair: The Ice Palace. They crept up behind the structure, planning to go in and see what's making Babs tick, when they heard what sounded like a large booming voice echoes across the field.

"Get down!" Sara cried. They both scurried behind a large glacier and watched what was ahead. Soon they saw her, CC the Abominable Babcock, for the very first time in all her raining glory. Wait, rain? Wasn't she supposed to just be a large windy weather cloud? The two watched her blow at an isolated tree to the point of glazing it over with ice and looking down and around the tree. "Sori!? Sori!" She called, her voice filled with concern. She went a bit further and called again, "Sori? Sori!" Rinse and repeat.

"Who's Sori?"

"Beats me." Chester replied with a shrug.

As Sara retracted her head back, she saw something glitter in the corner of her eye. She turned and saw, through the window, what looked to be a picture sitting on an icy table. She climbed the large glacier to take a closer look. Once at the top, she held on and looked closer into the window. From what she could tell, the picture was that of the Ice Queen herself with a smaller, much younger individual, both of them in an embrace and smiling at the camera.

"Did she have a daughter?" Sara asked.

"Who? Her?" Chester laughed, "Are you crazy, woman?!"

"No! From the looks of it, it seems like she might have a daughter." Sara said as she climbed down. "And I remember Santa also calling her the "Ice Queen", daddy always called her the "Ice Princess". And where theres a Queen, theres a Princess to take the Queen's old place. Maybe that's who this Sori is and she's looking for her. We gotta help her!"

"Maybe try the woods first. Great place to lose stuff... and bury stuff." Chester suggested.

"Good idea." Sara lead the way towards the woods, but immediately hid behind a rock when she heard the Abominable Babcock's voice booming across the field again. "C'mon, let's go!" Sara whispered after the coast was clear. And with a literal hop, skip, and a jump, they trotted into the dark forest.


	2. Chapter 2

Sara and Chester trekked deep into the forest, looking for any signs of life amongst the snow blanketed earth. They did see some bunnies, birds and other obvious arctic animals but nothing that proved an Ice Princess was in their midst.

Then Sara saw Chester stop dead in his tracks, prick his ears up and listened with what seemed like deep concentration.

"What is it?" The girl asked.

"It sounds like... singing." The dog whispered. "Coming deep within the forest."

Sara listened closely. She could barely hear the wind blowing through the trees, let alone singing. "I don't hear anything."

"Hell-o! I've got stronger ears!" Chester replied back with heavy sarcasm.

"Could you show me where its coming from?"

"What d'ya think I am? A pointer dog?"

"At the moment, yeah!"

"Ehhh..." Chester sighed in defeat as he jumped down from the downed log he was standing on. "I better get uber beggin' strips after this is over.

He lead the way as he tracked the sound, with Sara in tow, straining to hear whatever it was he was hearing. After a ways, she heard it: a faint, soft, gentle voice vocalizing what could have either been a lullaby or some other haunting tune of choice, and the singing itself was quite good too. The deeper they went into the forest, the louder the vocals became, gradually getting louder and louder until they knew they were practically within an earshot of its owner. If they could just get past this one last tree around the corner...

...And they were proved wrong.

"That's impossible!" Chester said, going over to smell the air, "It was coming from right here."

"You also said that today was the first time you ever hunted a rabbit."

"Hey, what happens at the North Pole, stays at the North Pole."

Sara headed over to Chester, who was sniffing around a large rooted tree, looking for any signs of foul play.

"Ah, wait... I think I got something!" Chester exclaims, his nose close to the bottom of the tree trunk.

"What do you got?"

"I don't know what it is – its definitely something, I know its something! Not sure what it is but..."

"But what?"

BOOM! A trap door opened on the side of the tree, its declining hole forcing Sara and Chester to fall through without much of a choice. And the icy texture of the trap door's walls weren't much help to them either.

They landed onto a dirt floor, not far from where they slid down. And before either of them had the chance to get up and look at their surroundings, they had someone yelling and screaming at them like a caveman, prompting them to get up immediately, with Sara shivering with fear and Chester barking at the stranger in front of his owner defensively: a young girl holding what looked to be a blue spear!

"Who are you?!" The stranger yelled, still brandishing the blue object in her hand, ready to strike, "What do you want?!"

"We - We're not here to harm you! Honest!" Sara assured her, "We – We just fell down here."

The girl lowered the blue staff slowly, still being cautious of her movements, "So... you weren't sent by my family?"

"No..." Sara shook her head. Family? What was she talking about? But as she got a good look at her, she understood: the young age, not looking much older than herself, the snowy, pale face; the blue velvet-like dress with white trimmed fur and hood, white stockings, and matching boots, as well as two pointy ears poking from beneath her medium length platinum blonde hair.

Sara slowly smiled, "You're Sori, aren't you?"

The girl looked away shyly, "How do you know that?"

"I saw your picture through a window at the Ice Palace."

Sori sighed. She should have known.

"But we weren't sent by anyone." Sara assured her.

The princess was having some inward difficulty believing them, but she really had no alternative, "You're not going to tell mummy I'm here, are you?" She asked her with worry as she put down her staff

"Tell her what?"

Sori went over to a nearby rock and sat upon it like a stool, with tiny ice stalagmites and sheets of ice magically forming wherever she sat, including her little feet.

"Thing is, I'm always at the Ice Palace. I hardly ever venture far from there. Even during the off Christmas season. I always stay within the castle walls, right where mummy can see me. And know where I'm at. But it gets so boring at the palace, there's nothing to do!... well, for the exception of making some pretty cool ice sculptures and some epic snowball... but other than that, everything else gets old. And mummy has been insisting I stay in the palace during the Christmas season, saying she wants it to be "family time" for us. But we always have family time. I just wanna get out for awhile, but she won't even allow me to do that. So I decided to take refuge here, in my hideout, just for a little while. Probably doesn't even know that I'm gone."

Sara chimed in, "But she does! Your mother has been looking all over the North Pole for you! We saw her! She was calling your name, blowing trees over and icing over all of Candyland just looking for you!"

"And iced some elves in the process too!" Chester added.

Sara nodded, "Santa's elves can hardly work because of the cold weather your mother's brought, probably because of how worried she is. Many of them are statues, so many in fact that Santa said he might not be able to get all his presents done by Christmas!"

Sori was astounded by everything they were saying. "That's preposterous! Why would my mother worry about me now? I'm home all the time, up until now!"

"We even saw her raining."

Sori's eyes slightly widened. "Jeez, she is worried... But... I don't want to leave here now!" Sori said as she stood up, "I've barely been gone that long!"

"But the entire North Pole is counting on you!" Sara implored, "At this point, it seems like you're the only one that can make your mother happy enough to thaw Candyland again!"

"Or am I?" Sori asked in a murmur.

"What?" Sara looked over at what she was looking at. Sori was gazing into one of the stalagmites that formed on the table in front of her the moment she put her hand down upon it. It was large enough to cast her reflection, as well as her own. She saw Sori's already bright eyes twinkle with genius.

"I got an idea!" Sori said as she twirled around to look at her, "Why don't you go to the castle, pretend to be me, and we both get what we want!?"

"How we can do that?" Sara asked, "I think she can pretty much tell the two of us apart."

Sori sighed, "No, c'mere!" She grasped Sara's hand and brought her over to the table with the large glacier on it. "You look just like me! Mummy won't know the difference! And with you going, I can stay here a bit longer, while the entire North Pole can still be saved from my mummy's ridiculous Ice Age. What do you think?!"

Sara shook her head, "But if she thinks I'm you... won't I have to stay at the castle? I honestly... really don't belong here to begin with."

"She'll never know you're missing once you present yourself to her. Just as long as she believes you're safe in the castle grounds, she won't have a reason to get cranky again."

Sara looked over at Chester. "Don't look at me. I'm up for whateva gets us outta here faster. I'm starving! "

Sara rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'll do it."

Sori smiled with a big grin and brought up her scepter, "Alright then, hold still... this might sting a little." She pointed the scepter at Sara and WHOOOOOSHH! put her into another copy of her own clothing: dress, stockings, boots and all! Sori noticed Sara was rubbing her forehead.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, brainfreeze." She smirked as Sori giggled. "C'mon, I'll show you the way out." She went over to the other side of the hideout while Sara collected Chester into her arms and followed her.

With her scepter, Sori tapped the wall twice and a small ladder appeared to climb up. "Going my way?" The Ice Princess asked as she started climbing the ladder first, with Sara in pursuit and Chester in her arms. It didn't take them long to get to the top and for Sori to open the hatch that lead them outside, which was located about 10 feet above where Sara and Chester slid down the other trap door earlier. She looked around before climbing out into the open.

"The coast is clear!" she whispered and climbed out first, then helping Sara and Chester out next.

"Now, there's one more thing you'll need in order to really pass off as me." Sori pointed out as she walked down the small mountain of tree roots and went over to a small cluster of trees nearby. At first it looked like she was going to be grabbing something either in the tree or hanging from it, but instead she went behind one of them and came back out holding onto the harness of a giant reindeer, almost the size of a full grown horse. They walked gingerly together with Sori giving off a gentle smile, while Sara's eyes were widened with surprise. "Is that... Santa's...?"

"Just one of them, dear." The reindeer's deep sultry voice answered sweetly before giving off a deep throated chuckle.

"Vixen!" Sara exclaimed quietly, still pleasantly surprised of the spectacle before her.

"Looks as if we have a smart one here." Vixen replied.

"I'm her official trainer during the off season." Sori explained, smoothing down a tuft of hair on Vixen's chest.

"I thought the elves did that." Sara admitted.

"If all the elves are working in Santa's workshop throughout the year, how could they take care of this horse?" Sori asked.

"I'm not that much of a handful, and you know it." Vixen's gentle voice assured her as she bobbed her head in emphasis.

"I know." Sori replied with a giggle as she petted her head. "Although, if you get that from stories they tell you, they're not completely wrong." Sori said as she wiggled her pointy ears while she went beside Vixen and fixed her harness.

"Are you an elf?" Sara asked.

"Half elf. But who's counting?" Sori shrugged. "Half elves can pretty much do whatever regular elves do. Even sing."

Sara smiled, remember the gentle singing that brought them. "That was you?"

"We all have a knick for song. Its what kind of song thats the real question." Sori smiled as she noticed Sara attempting to pet Vixen's head and antlers.

"It's alright, dear. I don't bite... much." The reindeer purring voice assured her as Sara's hand touched her velvety antlers and down to her furry coat. "So soft... kinda like you Chester, after you've been brushed." She giggled.

Just then, a large cold breeze brushed by, reminding them of what they were there for.

"We better hurry," Sori said while hurriedly going behind Vixen to the small one person sleigh. "Before mummy finds us."

Sara quickly climbed in and lifted Chester up onto her head. "You can hide under the hood, Chester."

"Finally!" He exclaimed as he pulled the hood up over Sara's face and covering himself, "Some warmth around here!"

"Alright, everything's set. Please go easy with them Vixen." The princess told her, "And once mummy sees you, come right back here." The reindeer bobbed her head in agreement and Sori moved her gaze up to Sara, "And whatever you do, hold on!"

"How fast can this reindeer goooooooo!?" And Vixen was off like a flash! They raced past trees, foliage, bushes and large rocks with amazing speed, almost unable to make their shapes out as they past by them! Sara tried desperately to hold on, as did Chester with the hood, but the wind rushing through them made it increasingly difficult.

"How are you holding up?!" Sara shouted amongst the strong wind current.

"Grrr... do ya think I am?" He shouted back, using his little paws to hold down the hood to prevent himself from being tossed back somewhere into the woods.

"Hold on! I think Vixen's coming in for a landing!" She shouted as Vixen seemed to take a complete nose dive towards the ground, leaving them screaming all the way down to the ground and until the sleigh landed softly onto the snow, just outside the Ice Palace.

Sara brought herself up from the bottom of the sleigh and looked around, with Chester peeling back the hood and doing the same. "We're alive! Woo hoo!" He pounced out of her hood and landed in the snow, prancing and dancing about proudly. "Take that, Rin Tin Tin! Haha!"

It was then Sara heard some gentle rumblings nearby that sounded familiar: thunder! The Abominable Babcock was coming!

"Chester!" She called to him, but he was celebrating too much to hear her or the low rumbling of the Abominable Babcock's thunder.

"Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!"

"Chester!" Sara continued to call and pointed towards her hood.

"Oh yeah! Oh ye - " And then he heard the rumbling thunder turn into lighting, prompting him to scurry out of the snow and straight into Sara's hood, propping it up on Sara's head to hide himself.

Then Sara saw her, the Abominable Babcock herself, further in the distance still hovering in the air, looking for her daughter. She gathered up the courage and called, "Mummy!"

Her call got her attention immediately, making her turn her large head towards Sara. Sara waved her gloved hand gently with a fake smile.

"I can't believe we're going through this right now..." Chester muttered with Sara smacking him gently by patting her hood down further onto her head, watching as the Abominable Babcock rushed over towards her.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Her voice boomed, "I DEMAND YOU EXPLAIN YOURSELF THIS INSTANT!" Lightening crackled and a swift wind current came forth as she spoke, making Sara lose some of that gumption she managed to swallow up. When the swift air current died down she answered.

"I was... I was training Vixen one last time before the Christmas season starts. I thought she could do some more laps... before I gave her up to Santa. I'm sorry... I-I should have told you. But I forgot to... I'm really sorry."

The Abominiable Babcock kept her arms crossed and face stern while she spoke, as if listening to every word with a grain of salt. Then the lightening died down, leaving only cloudy skies hovering about her.

"I told you Christmas is going to be spent at the castle. NO need to go outside!" She told her.

"I know you did, but... it won't happen again, mummy, I promise. I'm sorry... please forgive me." Sara bowed her head in what appeared to be sincerity. She then felt something touch the top of her head. It was the Abominable Babcock herself, using her large palm to stroke the top of her head and down her hood, as if she was stroking her hair in an almost comforting manner.

"I forgive you, little one." She hovered down low and embraced Sara in a, surprisingly, gentle way, her large hands completely wrapping around her small body. And even more surprising, was Sara's ability to embrace her back. Rather odd how she did it, and where her hands were placed, but it was an embrace nonetheless. The large cloud then let her go and hovered high above Sara's head. "Now you go back to the castle and fix the ornaments!"

"Yes... mum." That sounded like a conversation she had with her own mother not too long ago, before she even got here. She started to wonder what her parents were doing now: probably still bickering at each other, like they always were. She probably could walk back downstairs at home right now and they probably wouldn't have realized she was gone. All thoughts of bickering, ornaments and calling this weather cloud her "mum" really made her miss home and really eager to make her quick escape from the Ice Palace.

She and the Abominable Babcock went inside the Ice Palace, with Sara making sure the cranky cloud was farther ahead than her before darting over towards the left hand wall, taking ahold of the windowsill, and pulling herself up and out, hopping onto the large rock glacier that stood outside and sliding down it onto the snow.

Sara immediately flipped up the hood. "You alright up there?"

"Couldn't be betta!" Chester exclaimed happily before hopping down and walking beside her. As they continued to walk further away from the Ice Palace, they heard distant cheering. It was coming from Candyland! They both rushed over to see what was going on, and low and behold, Candyland looked like it was back to normal! The ice had thawed away on all of the sweets, as well as all of the elves who were joyous celebrating in the meadows of Candyland. And in front of his workshop was Kris Kringle, leading the celebration.

"We did Chester! We saved Christmas!" Sara exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, but I saved it twice!" He responded haughtily before going over to a nearby chocolate fence and breaking a little piece off, bringing it to her in his mouth. "No hard feelings, though, rookie!"

Sara took the piece of chocolate and reached over to take a small piece of donut and hand it down to him. "None at all." Chester gladly took it in his mouth.

They both ate their sweets as they walked towards the cave from whence they came, both relieved when they saw the mirror. Home was just a literal hop, skip and a jump away.

"I bet mum's probably gotten that phone call already." Sara said to Chester.

"Probably got it hours ago!" Chester responded, "You're still gonna give me those beggin' strips, right?"

Sara smiled and laughed, "You betcha!" Then her smile diminished. "You know, I won't be able to understand you once we get home. You'll be barking and yelping like the annoying self you always were."

The dog shrugged, "Eh, at least ya know what kind of food I like."

Sara smiled, "You ready to go?"

"Ready when you are, captain!" He exclaimed and jumped into her arms, eager to get to the other side.

Meanwhile, back at the Ice Palace, the Abominable Babcock was watching Candyland celebrate from her window. She growled at all the cheering and loud noise that came her way, but was at least thankful it was a descent distance away. She then closed her eyes and concentrated, and suddenly she had transformed from a large weather cloud, into a beautiful, statuesque woman, complete with a long sparkling dress, a medium length bob and a large glacial tiara sitting atop her head.

She sat down behind her ice sculpted desk, with her deep cerulean eyes immediately settling upon a diamond encrusted photo of her and her daughter. She took it into her hands and touched it with her long delicate fingers. But then she saw something in the photo that made her realize the worst: She noticed that her daughter's pointed ears stuck out of the hood, or at least one could always see them. Whereas with this "Sori" she didn't remember seeing them, or feeling them when she embraced her, which was unusual. She knew her child, and she certainly knew what her daughter looked like! Her eyes widened, that wasn't Sori, it was an imposter! And her real daughter was still out there, somewhere, with only God knowing what had happened to her!

Her pent up anger, anxiety and fear got the best of her and transformed her back to her weather cloud form, with lightening shooting about her like sparks, the thunder booming like Angel's bowling night, and the frigid cold now the coldest it ever has been: with intentions to get her daughter back, no matter WHAT the cost, even if it meant no Christmas at ALL! She pounded through the Ice Palace door and created a blizzard upon the entire North Pole that no one, not even Fran Fine, or even Kris Kringle himself, had EVER seen! The snow pelleted down upon the land like a hailstorm, the wind gusted with such intense force it created its own "snow devils", and finally she sent a wave of freezing water through the whole North Pole, even going through Candyland and solidifying everything and everyone, including Kris Kringle himself, into a block of solid ice. It was soon headed towards the mountains, where Sara and Chester were, just getting ready to go through the mirror.

"Do you hear that?" Chester asked, just before they stepped through.

"Hear what?" Sara asked, looking at him still her arms. But his gaze was on something a little bit more important.

"That!" He pointed, just in the knick of time to yell "duck!"as the freezing water came crashing through the cave like a tidal wave, splashing and soaking everything in its wake. They both brought up their now dampened, soaked bodies up and looked over at the mirror. It was still there, but the mirror itself was completely encased in a thick shell of ice.

"No! Nooooo!" Sara cried.

Their only way home was no longer accessible.


	3. Chapter 3

_**((Hey everyone! Long time, no see... or tawk, rather :) Anyway I'm well aware this is an UBER late post, but I figured it would be a decent Christmas present from me to you all after we all have been through this year. My year's been kinda rough and has kept me from finishing this story, but I assure you all will be over soon, pinky swear :) Will have the second half posted tomorrow as a second belated Christmas present. As always R &R and tell me what you think. Happy Holidays!))**_

* * *

Sara stood there before the mirror, taking it all in, not believing her only way home was completely encapsulated in a thick layer of ice. That is, until she saw a large gaping hole within that icy shell, just to the side of the mirror, big enough to put her arm through.

With widened eyes, she made a mad dash towards the mirror, but fell midway on her way towards it, falling backwards and leaving her to scramble to her feet. The gaping hole was filing up fast with ice as she struggled to regain her footing, deciding to crawl on the ice beneath her the rest of the way. She reached her hand out, desperate to grasp a hold of the edge of that hole, but before she could felt a sharp tug on the back of her coat. And with the ice beneath her forced her away from the mirror, just as the gaping hole filled up with ice and the entire mirror was within its icy shell.

Sara laid on the ground, her eyes steadfast on the reality of her situation, until the sound of panting made her snap out of it. She grabbed a hold of some nearby snow and angrily tossed it in Chester's general direction.

"Why did you do that?!" She shouted angrily.

Chester dodged the snowball, "Hey! what's the big idea!? I just saved ya life!" He barked back.

"You just got us stuck here!" Sara responded back.

"Whatdya think you were gonna do? Get your butt in that hole? _I_ might," He added, "But you'd have to be dead six months to do that, Babs."

Sara glared at the dog one last time before turning her gaze back towards the mirror, still able to see her reflection in it despite it being distorted by the ice. Her eyes turned sad and a frown came upon her face. "How are we gonna get out of here now?"

"I think ya know the answer to that one, missy." Chester said as he walked around her and sat in front of her, trying to get in her gaze's line of fire. "Hate to say it, but ya gotta tell that Abominable Babcock the truth."

"But you heard the princess," Sara retorted, "She said she hardly ever gets to leave her castle... and thats really not fair."

"Yeah, but you were the one all about finding that raincloud's daughter. We found her, so let's turn her in and get outta here!"

"But that's not fair to the princess..." She continued on, "Its not fair to me..." She then stopped herself, "Who were talking about again?"

"That raincloud elf."

"Yeah, of course!" Sara shook it off, although she couldn't but think this situation seemed oddly familiar...

"Alright you tell me something, which one you think is right?" Chester put his paws down, "Let that mini raincloud go amuck, or bring her back before the big one finds your butt and turns ya into a popicle and be outta here before dinner?"

Sara pursed her lips, "You drive a hard bargain."

"Got years of training!"

Sara nodded, "You're right. But only because I wanna get out of here!" She said as she gingerly got to her feet and proceeded to the front of the cave.

"Hey, why d'ya think 1 year is 7 years in dog years? I'm more than just pwetty looks, ya know!" Chester barked happily as he followed her.

Both of them peered out of the cave, looking to their lefts and rights.

"See anything?" Sara asked.

"Not a cloud in the sky." Chester whispered.

"Okay, let's go." They both stepped out of the cave and quickly made their way behind the nearest boulder, carefully peering over it to plan out their next move.

"One thing I don't get Dr. Chester."

"Ooh, that was rich." He snarled.

Sara looked down at him as she looked over the boulder, "Is how she was figured out I wasn't her daughter."

"Maybe she eyes in the back of her head and sensed ya jumping out the window." Chester answered in a whisper, "How am I supposed to know?"

They scurried behind another boulder, getting closer towards the forest.

"Then... why didn't she get me then."

"And again, how am I supposed to know?!" Chester exclaimed.

"Ssshhh!" Sara hushed him while he jumped up over the boulder to look out at the vast snowy horizon of the North Pole.

"C'mon! Only a few boulders to go!" He hopped down and scurried behind another boulder.

"Almost there!" Chester said with his eyes set on the nearby forest edge.

"And almost home!" Sara responded back.

"That's what you think!" A large booming voice said resounding around them like God himself.

At first they didn't know where the sound was coming from, until the very boulder from which they stood behind moved and levitated up into the sky, turned around and exposed itself as being the Abominable Babcock itself! Sara and Chester looked up at it, wide eyed with fear.

"Where is my DAUGHTER?!" The cloud roared, with hunder with lighting flashing about her.

"Uh..." The little girl meekily answered, with the little dog cowarding behind her, ".. right here, mummy! Just took a little trip down to Santa's. Said he needed some help with the presents. Yeah..." Her voice shook as she spoke.

But Abominable Babcock didn't buy it. She took a large inhale of breath and blew it out as a cold, bitter, blizzard wind onto the two figures standing before her. They both braced themselves against the harsh wind, struggling to stand and the hood from Sara's coat falling to her shoulders, exposing the one crucial lacking detail in her facade. Chester noticed it the moment the wind died down and was able to open his beady eyes.

"I-I think she's got you figured out..." He said pointing up to her head, and prompting the girl to gingerly move her hand up and touch her hair, then the side of the her head. She then remembered : Sori had _pointed_ ears!

And with that, the Abominable Babcock took another vast inhale of breath, much deeper than the last, and blew it back at them. This time it glittered dangerously with ice as it travelled towards them, frightening Sara and Chester away from the weathercloud and sprinting towards the forest as fast they could. The cloud was close at their heels.

"GET BACK HERE!" The cloud bellowed as it followed them, continuously blowing icy cold air in their direction.

"Jump!" Sara cried as they both neared the forest's edge. They both took a magnificent leap from the snowy meadow into the forest's edge, feeling a tidal wave of relief rush over her as she felt her feet hit the forest ground. Until she heard the familiar sound of whining.

Sara turned around and saw Chester stuck in an ice formation, mid jump. The Abominable Babcock was coming up quick on their tail!

Chester was struggling to get out, "Save yourself, Babs! I'll deal with that raincloud."

"I won't leave you!"

Sara rushed over to break the ice with a bound fist. Within the seconds the dog was free, grabbing Chester in her arms and dodging into the forest, hiding behind a tree, just in time for the Abominable Babcock to come by and gather her furry prize. But when she saw it wasn't there for her to collect, and that the ice formation had been broken, she grew angry. She lost them!

"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!" The cloud shouted in anger and darted off into the forest.

The Abominable Babcock's words echoed through Sara's mind, until she was distracted by a sudden wash of licking on her face.

"Thank ya! Thank ya! Thank ya!" Chester exclaimed with joy. "You saved my life!" He barked happily with a wagging tail.

Sara eventually got him to stop licking her, and put him down on the ground. "I thought you said you would take care of that raincloud."

Chester straightened himself up, "I could! Woulda been a piece of cake, too! But can't I appreciate some help?!"

Sara smirked, "Yeah. I guess so. Now don't get caught get into anymore tricks!" she scolded

"Tricks? Pssht!" Chester blew it off, "What tricks could that Abominable Babcock possibly do after that...?"

But that question couldn't have come a second too soon as Chester spotted what appeared to be a little white jackalope hopping upon the snow dusted forest floor. He started growling at the sight of its presence.

"Something like that." Sara pointed out, "Chester... just ignore it! Pretend its not there!"

Chester gave no answer. All he did was sit and growl at the horned rabbit, his haunches slowly rising as if ready to pounce. Sara knew he was ready to attack.

Then there was silence. The rabbit and the dog were caught in a stare down.

"Chester!" Sara called to break it up. But it was too late!

The little dog pounced and the chase was on! The little girl dashed after him, running as fast as her legs could carry her, calling after thought she was hot on his trail, until she no longer hear his barking. She immediately stopped where she stood.

"Chester?!" She shouted. "Chester!"

No answer. Sara walked through some twiggy areas until she came to a clearing, looking for any sign of the little pup.

"Chester!" She continued to look around her, looking for signs of movement...

BOOM!

The ground gave way beneath her feet and sent her deep underground, landing flat on her back with a loud THUD!

As she came around, and her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Sara could see the Ice Princess looking over her, holding Chester in her arms.

"Ughhh..." Sara moaned, "We gotta quit meeting like this."


	4. Chapter 4

"You have to go back to the Palace!" Sara demanded, staring the Ice Princess straight in the face.

"Why? What happened?" Sori looked at them both confusedly, "And why are you still here?"

"Because your royal highness is too stubborn."

"I am not!" Sori explained, "I just... needed an escape. Is all."

"But you don't know what its like up there." Sara continued, "The entire North Pole is froze over now... including my way home."

"That too?" Sori asked, sounding somewhat surprised.

"As solid as a bonafide contract." Sara explained. But when Sori didn't get it, she moved on.

"Anyway, my only way home is gone, and its all because you're not home before dinner." Sara explained as she removed her hood and motioned to her "non-pointy" ears, "And this doesn't help things much."

Sori took one look at them and sighed, "Mummy would notice things like that. She's _very_ detail oriented."

Sara huffed, "Tell me about it."

"Yours too?"

Sara was a bit hesitant to speak on anything family related, especially when it was starting to give her bouts of homesickness, "She sometimes tells me to rewrite my homework if she can't read my name."

Sori smiled, "You know... I was actually thinking about mummy before you got here. Sure, she might look like a big thunder cloud... and sound like one... and feel like one..."

"If it walks like a duck, tawks like a duck..." Chester egged on.

"Shhh!" Sara snapped before listening in further.

"She really isn't all _that_ bad." Sori continued, "When I was little she would put me on the edge of her cloud and soar me throughout the entire North Pole." Sori's smile began to wide, "And when I was a baby, whenever I was fussy, she would blow the wind chimes at my window near my crib... Helped me fall asleep..." She smiled as she remembered.

Sara gave soft smile, trying to swallow down another bout homesickness that threatened to glisten her eyes.

"Uh, Excuse me," Chester chimed in, "Hate to break the emotionfest, but we still gotta a holiday to save from Madame Ice Glacier!"

"Is it _really_ that bad?" Sori inquired.

" _Why_ would I lie about that?" Sara asked with her hands on her hips.

Sori crossed her arms, her posture taunt,"Well, I still don't believe you."

Within minutes, the three of them were in the tallest branch of Sori's tree, where they could see over the entire forest, into Candyland, and even the Ice Palace itself.

"Geez! if I knew _this_ was the tallest tree..." Sara started.

"Shhh!" Sori put her finger to her lip, "Quiet!" She put the end of her scepter up to her eye, with a small telescope shooting out of its top. When she looked through its glass, she saw everything down there!The completely froze over Candyland, the frozen elf statues, and even her own mother with thunder and lightning emitting from her mass.

"Geez," Sori whispered to herself in shock, lowering the telescope from her eye. She looked bewildered, and a little bit ashamed. "I-I've never seen her like that before..."

"You should've seen her years ago." Chester whispered to himself, getting Sara's attention.

Sori sighed as she turned towards the two, "Mummy's probably goning to kill me whenever I get down there.." She considered as she leaned against the wall of the lookout perch, "... but I am starting to miss home."

Sara lowered her gaze as she heard the princess' words, giving off yet another soft smile. "Yeah... me too..." she whispered.

"What?" Sori looked over at her.

"Uh... nothing..." Sara shook her head, watching Sori swing around, climb over the wall and down the ladder beside the tree.

Sara could feel Chester's beady eyes looking up at her.

"What?!"

"Crumbling, little Babs?" He asked with a sneer.

"No!" She answered harshly, pursing her lip together.

"Suit yourself." He walked towards the ladder with a triumphant smile, while "little Babs" wiped a tear running down her face.

Down below, Sori hitched Vixen to her sleigh, while Sara sat in the back with Chester in her lap.

"Alright," Sori called as she gave Vixen's harness a tug, "She's ready." She climbed in, flipped the hood over her head and adjusted the gloves around her wrists, while Sara did the same, knowing all too well what this reindeer was capable of.

Sori gave Vixen a pat, "Ready?"

"Ever since you got here, dear." Vixen turned to give what Sara and Chester thought to be "the eye" at Sori and they chuckled.

"Never mind that." She shook the harness and looked over at Sara, who now stood beside her with Chester in her arms, "You know you better hang on."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Sara said as she grabbed onto the front of the sleigh ,whilst Sori gave the harness a shake.

Up and away they went! They zoomed past trees and large branches that looked like mere streaks of brown and green as they zipped past them. They must have been going as fast as the speed of light! They weren't, however, going as high as they went before, considering they now had a professional on board.

"How'd you get so good?!" Sara shouted to Sori.

"Practice!" Sori yelled back, "I learned from the best!" She turned her head to look striaght in front of her. Pretty soon, they were well out of the woods, now riding over the snowy meadow.

"Hang on!" Sori cried out as she gave the harness a good yank. Down Vixen went, heading towards the snowy meadow below. But they were going too fast! And they were nearly at a complete 45 degree angle towards the ground! Sara quickly clutched onto Chester and ducked into the sleigh, just as Vixen's hooves hit the ground.

POOFFTT!

The reindeer gently hit the powdery snow below with the sleigh following suit.

Once all was still, Sara, Chester and Sori peered above the top of the sleigh, surveying their surroundings.

"You gotta put seatbelts in this thing!" Sara exclaimed, with Sori nodding in agreement.

"C'mon!" Chester called as he hopped out of the sleigh. "Quick! Before that cranky cloud finds us!"

That not being something on either of the girls' Christmas list, they scrambled out of the sleigh and began trekking through the vast snowy meadow, heading towards the palace.

"Perhaps if I get to castle before she does, I might not be punished as badly." The Ice Princess contemplated outloud.

"Knowing that witch, I doubt it." Chester muttered under his breath.

"AHAHAHAHA!" An all too familiar chilling cackle resounded around them, along with an icy blizzard wind that circled them like a tornado. It prompted the trio to run towards the nearest boulder and hide. But while Sori made it, the Abominable Babcock stood before Sara and Chester and trapped them up against a nearby tree.

"You know me too well, mutt." The weathercloud's voice boomed with arms crossed and an evil sneer across her face. "And now you're going to PAY!"

"Sori, get your royal tuckus over here!" Chester's voice called out to the nearby princess, but the Abominable Babcock merely cackled under her breath.

"You think THATS going to save you?!" She asked, "I already gave you your chance to give her up, and now you will BOTH pay for your arrogance!" The hovering cloud took a large intake breath, steadied her piercing eyes onto the two figures before her, and blew an icy wind towards their direction. Either of them was too scared to move or digress from the blast, and as it hit them began to encase them in ice, pinning them to the tree behind them.

The Ice Princess watched from her hiding spot behind the nearby boulder. Her eyes widened with shock as she saw her two friends being swallowed up by her mother's magic. They cried for help as the ice began to take over their bodies, first their feet, then their torsos, hands, arms, and their necks. Pretty soon it traveled onto their faces, threatening to silence them forever. Something she knew she couldn't have happen.

ZZAAPP!

A large blue forcefield formed around the girl and her up, stopping The Abominable Babock's magic in its tracks! The weathercloud turned to trace the source of the magic, her eyes travelling from the forcefield before her and directly behind her where Sori stood atop the boulder, the tip of her scepter glowing a bright blue.

"Leave them alone, mummy!" The little girl's voice confidently called out to her. "I'm the one you want!"

The Abominable Babcock looked upon the girl with disbelief. Was this truly her daughter? Her piercing eyes stared at the girl, studying her. It all started to sink in.

"Sori..." Her deep gravelly voice muttered with disbelief, laced with anger. The cloud floated over towards the girl, who had already hopped off the top of the boulder.

"Sori..." The cloud asked further, continuing to stare straight at the girl, "Sori, where... WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Her roaring voice shook, prompting the pointy eared girl to lower her head and shoulders in shame. "I've been looking EVERYWHERE for you! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"

Sori couldn't bare to look up at her mother. She had never seen her so angry, and was afraid of the consequences that were to come from this. But as she lowered her scepter and ceased its forcefield around her two friends, she accepted her fate.

"I..." She gave a small sigh, "I know you told me to stay at the castle..." Sori finally gathered the courage to look up at her mother, "But I'm _always_ at the castle. I'm _always_ being told to stay there no matter what. And I was tired and bored. So I left. I was gonna come back! I just wanted to get out of there for awhile... is all."

"Sori," The Abominable Babcock spoke with her arms crossed, "Don't you think there might be a reason WHY I tell you you need to stay there?!" 

Sori sighed, "So we can celebrate Christmas..."

"...AS A FAMILY!" The cloud exclaimed.

"But we're always together for Christmas! For _every_ holiday!" Sori exclaimed in frustration. "We're together all the time at the Palace. What's one day?"

"What's one day?!" The Abominable Babcock exclaimed, her voice raising in anger, "I'll tell you what one day away me - " Much to the two ice sculptures' surprise, the Abominable Babcock contained herself quickly, noticing her clenched fist come down below her clouded form. She pursed her lips, as if reconsidering what she wanted to say.

"I'll let you know," The cloud spoke carefully and sternly, "that one day away meant looking high and low throughout this... frozen wasteland, for you! Making me worried sick every moment I couldn't find you, couldn't see you! Making me think the worst had been done upon you. Wolves, Polar Bears, or worse... they could have all gotten to you." Sori's head lowered again in shame.

"And just because we're at the Ice Palace, doesn't mean we're together." She continued, "With me having to keep everything a constant 50 degrees below and you contantly racing Vixen all the time, I would hardly call that "quality" time..." The Abominable Babcock's eyes finally looked down at the little figure before her. It broke her heart to see her standing as she was, her head hung down and confidence practically leeched out of her little body. Usually this is what she wanted : completely control over anyone that crossed her path, have them cower before her like a feral animal. But dealing with her own kind felt different. It felt cruel, almost truly evil. In a way it seemed like a part of her was being forced to cower before herself, a metaphor she knew, psychologically, to be painful.

The weathercloud went around the girl and hovered just behind her, the bottom of her cloud form nearly touching the ground, "That is, not the "quality time" I remember having..." She said as she bumped up behind Sori, plopped her onto her soft, pillowy surface and soared her ten feet off the ground!

"Weee!" Sori exclaimed childishly as she soared through the air. A deep chuckle resounded from the weathercloud in response, along with what one could believe to be a soft smile. Moments later she lowered the girl back onto the ground, using her large hand to turn Sori around and face her.

"Now you understand why I'm upset?" The Abominable Babcock asked the girl sternly.

Sori lowered her eyes and nodded, "Yes... I'm sorry..."

The cloud nodded, "Alright then." She answered back firmly before her eyes stared onto the two ice sculptures behind her daughter. "Now, what about these two... mortals." The word curled over her tongue like a disappointment. "What do THEY have to do with all this?"

Sori turned and looked at them, "They found me and told me your were looking for me. Placing the entire North Pole under ice. I didn't believe them. But they said they needed to get home. So I suggested that she dress like me, to make you think I had returned home. To unfreeze the town. But it didn't work." She lowered her head once more.

Once more, the Abominable Babcock began to feel for her daughter, believing that she had endured enough shame... for now. With that in mind, she gingerly put an arm about her, "I'm just glad to know you're safe." Her voice told her, careful to keep disappointment laced within her words.

The girl went on her tip toes and hugged her back. "I'm sorry... I won't do it again."

"I'll make sure of that." The cloud answered.

As she answered, an aurora beam of magnificent light emitted from them and travelled over to the two ice sculptures still pinned to the tree.

"This is beautiful and all, but I'd like to be able to get out of this ice tr - !" Chester exclaimed as the aurora went through their ice shells and shattered into a million pieces... as well as prompting them to hit the snowy ground.

FWOOP!

Chester shook the snow from his coat as Sara dusted off hers. And as they both stood up, they watched in awe as the Abominable Babcock's cloud-like figure began to disapate and changed into a beautiful woman. She had shoulder length platinum blonde hair, a tall figure set in a long sparkling dress, red lips set in a gentle smile, complete with a headdress made of what appeared to be solid ice or diamonds. She was the epitome of royalty!

"Whoa..." Chester muttered with disbelief. Then a distant noise caught Sara's attention. Sounded like... cheering! She turned her head and saw what looked like movement across the meadow in Candyland. The entire town was being unthawed from their icy shells!

"The town's being unthawed!" Sara exclaimed, getting Sori's attention as she broke from her mother's embrace, coming over to watch. The sight made her smile, "Geez, did I do that?"

Sara was beaming, "Christmas is saved, Chester! Now we can go home!" She exclaimed happily, expecting a response from the little dog. But when there wasn't one, Sara looked around her and found he had vanished again! "Chester? Chester!"

This prompted Sori to look around herself, "Chester!" 

"Where could he have gone to this time?"

"Anywhere by this point."

Then Sori spotted him further away in the meadow, looking as if he was ready to pounce. It took her a moment, but she soon realized he was about to pounce on a white jackalope not 3 feet away from him. Her eyes widened as she dashed after him. "Chester, no!"

But Chester didn't hear her, nor did he really care.

"Now I'm gonna gettcha..." He muttered as he steadied his aim on the unsuspecting jackalope.

"Chester stop it!" Sori cried out, still dashing after him. Sara soon realized what the little pup was up to and was not running far behind Sori.

"Leave him alone!" Sori called out again as she pounced into the snow and tackled Chester down, just before he got ahold of the jackalope. As Sara joined up with the two, a large dervishing whirlwind stood in the place of the white jackalope, swirling the snow this way and that, glittering against the now darkened sky. As the snow settled, in its place stood an older gentleman, covered head to toe in white, from his fur lined cape to the hair atop his head. His striking blue eyes settled onto Sori and gave a gentle smile. "Surely you didn't forget about me." His voice purred.

Sori's eyes beamed, "Daddy!" She exclaimed and ran towards him.

Sara and Chester looked at each confusedly as they stood up. "Daddy?" They both said in unison.

Sori jumped into the gentleman's outstretched arms, burying her face deep into his fur lining, with him giving off a grateful smile as he embraced her.

There was something about the gentleman that made Sara think she had seen him somewhere before...

"...E-Elfis?" She asked in breathy whisper, as if placing the name to the face.

The gentleman peered over at Sara with a gentle smile, "Who else?" The gentleman answered, clutching Sori close. "Where else do you think she got her elven magic?" It was then she saw that he too, like Sori, had pointed ears. "And besides, who else do you think could raise this little stalagmite?"

Sori blushed and hid her face in his cloak's lapel.

 _ **(( Final chapter underway. Stay tuned! :) ))**_


End file.
